December 09, 2009

Pork and Chili Bean Noodles

There's only so long one can eat Western food and for me that appears to be about 2 weeks. I'm now firmly back on an Asian diet. This wasn't my first foray into Asian dining since returning but whilst my jiaozi wrapping skills have improved no end after a lesson in Beijing, my attempts at recreating a filling I had there (lamb with Chinese celery), whilst tasty, weren't worthy of a blog post. If you're interested in my dough handling skill improvements though have a little look here compared to these ones from a couple of days back. Go me.

The pork mince recipe from the post title is an attempt to replicate another dish I had in China. Here the meat is lifted with the inclusion of lots of umami laden items - chili bean paste, black beans and soy all add mouth feel leaving something truly bursting with flavour. It is very versatile too, the red oily sauce will coat dry noodles beautifully and if you want something wet then add a ladleful of stock and it will be transformed into a fiery pork noodle soup. For the latter a little black vinegar moves it towards hot and sour. If you're having it dry then serve some steamed chinese greens with oyster sauce alongside. If you're serving it as a soup then get the greens in the bowl with it.

Pork and Chili Bean Noodles, serves 4

400gr of minced pork

150ml of water

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

3cm knob of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 TB black beans, rinsed and chopped

1 ts sugar

2.5 TB chili bean paste

1/2 - 1 ts chili flakes

2 ts light soy sauce

1 ts dark soy sauce

1/2 ts salt

2 spring onions, finely sliced

Handful of coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Noodles of your choice for 4 people (I used banh pho wide flat rice noodles), prepared as per packet instructions

Pak choi or choi sum

Method

Heat some oil in a wok and add the garlic, ginger and black beans, stirring till fragrant. Add the mince and fry till browned.

Move the mince to one side of the wok and add the chili bean paste to the other, giving it 30 seconds cooking.

Add the water, soy sauces, chili flakes, salt and sugar, stir to combine then simmer till the water has evaporated.

Add the spring onions and coriander then serve over noodles, with or without stock.